A 52-year-old Malaysian factory worker died after his head got caught in a paper grinding machine which he was repairing.
He was working in Simpang Ampat, a town in Penang, early on Sunday around 4.15am.
It was believed that the victim, Mr Tan Hong Seng, was removing a steel plate of the faulty machine when it started to run automatically. This caused the man’s head to be caught inside the machine.
According to the district police chief, he was pronounced dead at the scene because of severe head injuries.
The rescue department personnel spent about half hour to remove the victim’s head from the machine.
A netizen on Channel NewsAsia’s Facebook post commented that workers must “lockout-tagout” before doing repair work.
Lockout-tagout is a safety procedure used to make sure dangerous machines are properly shut off and not able to operate before servicing work is completed.
Last year, there were 42 tragic deaths and 558 major injuries in Singapore as a result of workplace accidents.
MP Melvin Yong is calling on all workers to make safety a top priority and prevent accidents from happening at work.
Featured image: Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia
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